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8 Must-Try Foods in New Zealand

Written by: Derik Grove // Category: New Zealand

As mentioned previously, one of my favorite things about travel is discovering new foods! Though many may not initially think of New Zealand as a foodie’s haven, there are several delicious meals you must try while visiting the most beautiful country on earth.

8 Must-Try Foods in New Zealand

It’s no small secret to my friends, family, and now our blog readers…I’m a foodie. One of my favorite things about traveling is discovering the local cuisine, and am more than willing to try things at least once. Though many may not initially think of New Zealand as a foodie’s haven, there are several delicious meals you must try while visiting the most beautiful country on earth.

Luckily for me, working locally, I was able to get the inside scoop on some of the best meals around, also some of the most bizarre (canned spaghetti and toast for breakfast). I also learned there was quite a learning curve when it comes to certain foods: Biscuits in NZ are more commonly known as cookies in the US, and scones are what we consider biscuits. Confusing right? I just confused myself writing that.

New Zealand Foods

Now, back to my favorite New Zealand eats. Besides the obligatory Fergburger in Queenstown, be sure you try at least half of the foods listed below for a real ‘Kiwi Experience’!

Pies

The very best of the best! Meat pies (nope, not dessert pies)! Many of you have probably had some form of these; growing up we would sometimes have chicken pot-pies which share similarities to pies in New Zealand. The NZ pies are palm-sized savory pastries filled with a variety of fillings usually consisting of a meat, thick gravy/sauce, and maybe some vegetables. These beauties with change your life! Or at least, if you like them as much as me, they will change belt size.

The most common pie fillings are: mince (hamburger), hamburger and cheese, steak and onion, steak and cheese, steak and mushroom, and lamb. But there are quite a few specialty pie shops that introduce their own unique fillings and flavors — just to set themselves apart from the rest I guess. Once I even tried a chicken and apricot pie, and it was surprisingly tasty (my mouth is watering just thinking about it). Pies can be found everywhere and are generally a quick, easy, handheld snack. Most gas stations will have a warmer full of [previously frozen] pies, but to get the freshest and most tasty, you really should visit a bakery.  I became a bit of a pie connoisseur during our time in NZ, and the best pie I ever had was actually out of a food truck from a lady who made them fresh every morning.

Just try as many as you can squeeze into your schedule!

New Zealand Foods

Cheese rolls

Want a unique ‘Kiwi’ snack? Try a cheese roll from a local bakery or cafe. These delicious bread rolls are almost like a grill cheese sandwich rolled up but, no offense, are much more delicious. Cheese rolls are something many bakers pride themselves with in the South Island, and it has actually stirred up a good deal of competition amongst the locals as to which town makes the best ones. Basic cheese rolls typically consist of bread, and cheese sauce made from cheddar cheese (the real kind, which is white by the way for those of you in the USA) mixed with an onion soup mix. Simple enough right?! Cheese rolls are definitely a cheap yet delicious snack you must try at least once, but are almost guaranteed to be back for seconds.

Sausage Rolls

These delectable bites have made it to several places in the world I believe, in one form or another, but I am including sausage rolls in this post because they are something many Kiwis absolutely love. My fellow co-workers even had sausage roll designated days.

Sausage rolls are exactly what they sound like; sausage (the non-incased kind) formed into a rectangular shape and wrapped in pastry. These weren’t my personal favorite but they do the trick with keeping away hunger, and seem to be pretty iconic. Try them with a bit of ketchup tomato sauce to keep it authentic.

Pubs (aka home of the Mixed Grill)

If you are looking for dishes and full-sized meals that are decently priced, and don’t want to stick out as tourist, go to a pub. Not only will you be served fantastic food, but you’ll probably make a few friends while watching the rugby game that’s playing on TV. My favorite dish to order at our local pub (Mitchell’s Tavern in Dunedin) was the mixed grill —  yes, you can get mixed grill other places in the world, but for some reason it seems better in New Zealand (isn’t everything better in NZ?). A mixed-grill is also exactly as it sounds: a heaping plate of chips (fries), a lamb chop, beef steak, ham, sausage, bacon, and topped with fried egg and maybe gravy. It also comes with a roasted tomato, but I don’t need to try and make this meal sound healthy…it’s  a ‘slightly’ imbalanced meal for sure, but boy is it good.

Fish and Chip Shops

A cornerstone in the Kiwi diet, it seems, fish and chips shops are found everywhere! Despite what you may assume by the name, these take-away cafes offer a large variety of food beside fish and chips: burgers, thai food, chinese food, pizza, and other various grilled sandwiches and veggies. Not wanting to break the bank at a regular sit-down restaurant, Amanda and I found it fun to bring home food from a Fish and Chip shop, or take out on a picnic somewhere once or twice a week. If you are wanting to try a Kiwi favorite in one of these establishments, order the blue cod fish and chips (usually comes wrapped in a gigantic piece of paper)!

New Zealand Foods

Whitebait

I wish I had tried this. Since I haven’t, I can’t speak to the actual flavor and if it’s good at all, but this is definitely a Kiwi delicacy I haven’t seen anywhere else. Whitebait is a young immature fish, normally less than 50mm long. They can been found along the shore and in streams and rivers at certain times of the year. The small fish are caught in a fine net usually held by hand, and are left whole and pressed into fritters and fried. I have heard they are very tasty, but like I said, I didn’t get the chance to give it a shot.

Can I still recommend it if I didn’t get to try it?

New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel

As you can imagine, since New Zealand  is surrounded by water, a lot of the traditional food comes from the sea. I typically don’t prefer seafood, but because NZ mussels are such a delicacy and famous throughout the South Island, I had to try them. Much to my surprise, I actually liked them a lot better than I thought I would (dare I say delicious?). The ones we tried had more of a smokey flavor and, this may sound strange, but almost tasted like a cross between a clam and a salmon.

Lamb

New Zealand lamb is one of my absolute favorite meals. I don’t care if it’s in a pie, served as a chop, or roast… If you like to eat lamb, New Zealand has it in abundance. Buying lamb is affordable, and about the same cost as beef —  I’ve sometimes even found it to be cheaper depending on what cut I wanted. Butcheries have all sorts of ready-to-grill packages to choose from if you want the DIY option. You really can’t go wrong.

New Zealand Foods

So there you have it: my top 8 must-try foods in New Zealand. I clearly put pies on a pedestal above everything else, but you can (and should) decide for yourself what you like best while visiting!

What are some of your New Zealand favorites?

Let it be known that the picture of the fist-full of needle fish at the beginning of this post were indeed cleaned and cooked by us! We were out checking out the tide pools in the Northland, and a kind lady gave us some to try. Although they aren’t the most common fish to eat in NZ, if you get a chance, eating a needle fish is quite the experience!

​

Welcome to Living in Another Language! Thanks for dropping by. We’re Derik and Amanda, a couple with a permanent case of wanderlust. Follow along with us as we travel the world. Read more about us HERE.

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Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays, but the ones we get to take are oh so sweet. 

My daughters are now 2.5 years and 6 months old. Life never slows down, but only gets faster with each day we’re blessed to live. Social media may not be a part of my life how it used to be, and instead I’m working on living life intentionally each day as we raise our girls during these crazy times. 💕
2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love 2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love social media, I found myself taking a break as the things we were all going through made social media so insignificant to me. 

In January/February I had a miscarriage. It was a horrible way to start the year, and little did I know it was just the beginning of it all. 

Even with the loss, hardship of moving back to the US in the middle of a global pandemic, and navigating our new lives here, we were given many blessings. The greatest of those was finding out I was pregnant again in March.

It’s a scary time to be pregnant right now, especially after a miscarriage, because doctors visits are very minimal. Also, Derik was never able to come to a single visit. I was terrified something would happen and I would be told bad news and have to face that alone. But God was gracious to us. 

We kept our special little secret to ourselves, and it wasn’t until our third trimester before we told immediate family and close friends. My pregnancy was very private for me, and a special time to bond closely with the babe growing inside me.

Our sweet little girl arrived November 30, and yes I had to deliver with a mask on, but she is perfect and I truly feel our family is complete. 💕🌈
 
“When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that we are not still dealing with its aftermath. It means something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and hope.”
I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/mons I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/monstera collector is when you get to behold such a beauty in real life. If there were ever #plantgoals, this is it. 

Since moving from Germany, it has been a long and slow process getting our life back to normal. All of our belongings have yet to arrive so we’ve literally been camping in our house on an air bed and camping chairs for two months. 😂 All that to say, having to start my plant collection over again here stateside has been so much fun! I will miss the plant prices if Germany, but the selection here blows my mind. Anyone else obsessed? We’ve lived here for almost 8 weeks now and I already have 11 plants 😂😬😬😬. I don’t have a bed or a couch, but by golly I have greenery. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️🌱
Oh my heart. I’ve been trying to figure out the Oh my heart.

I’ve been trying to figure out the words to say about our time in Germany, but my fingers can’t seem to type out how to express my love, gratefulness, thankfulness, sadness, and heartbreak I feel about leaving. Every country we’ve lived in has taught us something and has given us so many beautiful memories, as well as opened our eyes a little more to different cultures and ways of living.

But Germany was special. The first time we stepped foot into Germany was in 2015, and we loved it so much we stayed the extent of our travel visa (3 months). I was able to visit again in 2016, and then we officially packed everything and moved in 2017. Germany has always had my heart: the people, the festivals, the food, wine and beer, the immaculate home landscaping, and even all the rules that every resident is just expected to follow to a tee (like recycling every tiny scrap of trash). Our family grew from two to three while in Germany. Bringing our daughter into the world, and raising her for a year and a half in a different culture, will be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.

Our move was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and it took three long months of delays, red tape, and countless phone calls to get everything together so we could actually get on a plane and have our stuff packed and shipped to our new home. 
I am breathing a sigh of relief to know all the stress of everything is over and our new adventure can begin. I am mourning the loss of leaving Germany. I am in a weird transition right now trying to grasp it all, but here we are jumping into new things head first! We are back in the US for a while, in the beautiful state of Tennessee, and look forward to many new memories, travels, friends, and being able to spend time with family! 
Photos from my sweet and talented friend @juliejayphotos
I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas m I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas markets. We went to a total of ONE market, which is exactly 19 less than I told myself I would go to this year to make up for not going to any the year before 🤦🏼‍♀️(I was 40 weeks pregnant and not feeling crowds). I will say, it was a great one and the weather was so nice, we stayed out until the market shut down.

If there’s one thing I will miss most about Germany when it is our time to move, will be the sheer enthusiasm this country has for Christmas, and I’m not talking about consumerism. Food, laughter, friends, family, music, dancing: celebration. Also, Germany shuts down for not only one day, but THREE. Stores are closed, mail is not delivered, people aren’t out and about. Everyone is home enjoying time with family, and I love it. However, I may have gone into full blown panic mode Christmas Eve when I realized I had a total of 8 diapers to get us through until the 27th. 👀
We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whist We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whistler, Canada! A 10 hour flight from Germany , and I can’t say this one was better than the one we took over the summer on our trip to Alaska, but we survived! Entertaining a 11 month old for that long is much harder than a 6 month old, especially when they aren’t into sleeping on the plane AT ALL. 🤪

Whistler was beautiful despite the lack of snow, and we enjoyed our time with family, the delicious food, and as much sightseeing as one could do with a jet-lagged baby. 
This was actually my first trip to Canada ever, (unless you want to count the move my parents took up to Alaska from Arkansas when I was two. 😂🤷‍♀️ ) and I loved it! We would really like to take a big Canadian road trip someday and explore more of the country! 😍😍🇨🇦

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      • How to Travel Right out of College
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      • Your Questions Answered: The Miscellaneous
      • Teaching ESL is Hard
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      • Not Home for the Holidays
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      • I Need Your Questions!
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      • Blogging 101: Using Pinterest to Maximize your Blogging Potential
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      • I Don't Understand
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      • LASIK in Korea? You must be kidding.
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      • Why I'm the Worst Traveler Ever
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      • 30 day challenge
      • Korean Commercials Pt. 1
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      • The temple on the sea
      • I love bloglovin!
      • A saturday photo session
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      • A game of charades (aka everyday life)
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      • Korea: the country where random situations rule
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      • Seoraksan favorites
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      • Friday Funnies (LINK-UP!)
      • I STILL Don't Use Shampoo
      • Weird Wednesday (05/22)
      • The thing about 'selfies'
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      • Green smoothie: grapefruit
      • The time we went to an adult playground
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      • Things i wish i had known...
      • Breakfast in seosan
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      • Hakdong (pebble) beach
    • ►April
      • Why would i say that?
      • Recipes: fish tacos
      • Lately [3]
      • Would you like to know?
      • Weird Wednesday (4/23)
      • Friend connect bloghop
      • .org vs .com and how I almost lost it
      • Cocoppa: an ocd iphone lover's dream
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      • The candid series: busan
      • For every woman
      • DIY Lip Balm
      • Lately
      • Of 'Weird Wednesdays' and liebster awards
      • Recipes: boneless bbq chicken
      • Shopping habits
      • Out with the old...
      • I'm attracted to attractions
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      • Recipes: cheddar garlic biscuits
      • The purple mountain (Mt. Daegeumsan)
    • ►March
      • Weird Wednesday (03/27)
      • Osaka aquarium kaiyukan (part two)
      • The dentist.
      • I don't use shampoo
      • Weekly photo challenge: my korean happy meal
      • Fireworks + friends = epic
      • Thirty-three reasons why I love my job.
      • Japan: land of the rising sun
      • So...you want to be an ESL teacher?
      • Weird Wednesday (03/06)
    • ►February
      • Bored on a thursday night?
      • Osaka aquarium kaiyukan (part one)
      • The time i went to north korea (DMZ)
      • Weekly photo challenge: forward
      • A trip to the bamboo forest
      • Year one
      • Be mine
      • French press lattes
      • Weird Wednesday (02/13)
      • The bet we made with the boys
      • [Vietnam] last day in paradise
      • [Vietnam] $10 dollar scooters and free spray tans
      • Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique (Dr. Seuss)
    • ►January
      • Weird Wednesday (01/30)
      • I practice my hobbies on saturdays...
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      • [Vietnam] the time i ate sea urchin
      • The candid series: farmer's market
      • [Vietnam] landing in paradise
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      • [Vietnam] a morning in the bay
      • Weird Wednesday (01/09)
      • [Vietnam] in silent waters
      • [Vietnam] of busy streets and great food
      • Weird Wednesday (01/03)
  • ►2012
    • ►December
      • Dear santa...love, an expat.
      • Delicate
      • Bring forth the holiday cheer pt.2
      • Recipes: grandma knows best
      • I've become domesticated.
    • ►November
      • Weekend reunions
      • Bring forth the holiday cheer
      • They deserve it the most...
      • Three quarters.
      • 11/11
      • Halloween: 'korean style'
    • ►October
      • I wish I were...
      • Foreign
      • Sorry if i'm rude, i'm american.
      • Expat resources
      • As the days get colder
      • Big
      • Colors of change
      • Chuseok
      • 24
      • Top ten
      • Jasmine: not the tea or the disney princess.
      • Where do i get it? 10/4
    • ►September
      • six months plus.
      • [Bali] late night cruisin'
      • [Bali] water adventure day
    • ►August
      • Grand mirage...a piece of paradise. [bali]
      • The first of many [bali].
    • ►July
      • The dirtiest people i've ever seen
    • ►June
      • Its not always about the pictures.
      • Yeosu world expo. Basically the coolest event i've ever been to.
    • ►May
      • Seoul. It's beautiful chaos.
    • ►April
      • When did time escape me?
    • ►March
      • That BBQ Chicken...
      • Sick Days...
      • Busan
    • ►February
      • Of food and other things.
      • The Journey Over
      • The Grand Adventure
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Currently on Instagram

Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays, but the ones we get to take are oh so sweet. 

My daughters are now 2.5 years and 6 months old. Life never slows down, but only gets faster with each day we’re blessed to live. Social media may not be a part of my life how it used to be, and instead I’m working on living life intentionally each day as we raise our girls during these crazy times. 💕
2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love 2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love social media, I found myself taking a break as the things we were all going through made social media so insignificant to me. 

In January/February I had a miscarriage. It was a horrible way to start the year, and little did I know it was just the beginning of it all. 

Even with the loss, hardship of moving back to the US in the middle of a global pandemic, and navigating our new lives here, we were given many blessings. The greatest of those was finding out I was pregnant again in March.

It’s a scary time to be pregnant right now, especially after a miscarriage, because doctors visits are very minimal. Also, Derik was never able to come to a single visit. I was terrified something would happen and I would be told bad news and have to face that alone. But God was gracious to us. 

We kept our special little secret to ourselves, and it wasn’t until our third trimester before we told immediate family and close friends. My pregnancy was very private for me, and a special time to bond closely with the babe growing inside me.

Our sweet little girl arrived November 30, and yes I had to deliver with a mask on, but she is perfect and I truly feel our family is complete. 💕🌈
 
“When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that we are not still dealing with its aftermath. It means something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and hope.”
I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/mons I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/monstera collector is when you get to behold such a beauty in real life. If there were ever #plantgoals, this is it. 

Since moving from Germany, it has been a long and slow process getting our life back to normal. All of our belongings have yet to arrive so we’ve literally been camping in our house on an air bed and camping chairs for two months. 😂 All that to say, having to start my plant collection over again here stateside has been so much fun! I will miss the plant prices if Germany, but the selection here blows my mind. Anyone else obsessed? We’ve lived here for almost 8 weeks now and I already have 11 plants 😂😬😬😬. I don’t have a bed or a couch, but by golly I have greenery. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️🌱
Oh my heart. I’ve been trying to figure out the Oh my heart.

I’ve been trying to figure out the words to say about our time in Germany, but my fingers can’t seem to type out how to express my love, gratefulness, thankfulness, sadness, and heartbreak I feel about leaving. Every country we’ve lived in has taught us something and has given us so many beautiful memories, as well as opened our eyes a little more to different cultures and ways of living.

But Germany was special. The first time we stepped foot into Germany was in 2015, and we loved it so much we stayed the extent of our travel visa (3 months). I was able to visit again in 2016, and then we officially packed everything and moved in 2017. Germany has always had my heart: the people, the festivals, the food, wine and beer, the immaculate home landscaping, and even all the rules that every resident is just expected to follow to a tee (like recycling every tiny scrap of trash). Our family grew from two to three while in Germany. Bringing our daughter into the world, and raising her for a year and a half in a different culture, will be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.

Our move was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and it took three long months of delays, red tape, and countless phone calls to get everything together so we could actually get on a plane and have our stuff packed and shipped to our new home. 
I am breathing a sigh of relief to know all the stress of everything is over and our new adventure can begin. I am mourning the loss of leaving Germany. I am in a weird transition right now trying to grasp it all, but here we are jumping into new things head first! We are back in the US for a while, in the beautiful state of Tennessee, and look forward to many new memories, travels, friends, and being able to spend time with family! 
Photos from my sweet and talented friend @juliejayphotos
I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas m I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas markets. We went to a total of ONE market, which is exactly 19 less than I told myself I would go to this year to make up for not going to any the year before 🤦🏼‍♀️(I was 40 weeks pregnant and not feeling crowds). I will say, it was a great one and the weather was so nice, we stayed out until the market shut down.

If there’s one thing I will miss most about Germany when it is our time to move, will be the sheer enthusiasm this country has for Christmas, and I’m not talking about consumerism. Food, laughter, friends, family, music, dancing: celebration. Also, Germany shuts down for not only one day, but THREE. Stores are closed, mail is not delivered, people aren’t out and about. Everyone is home enjoying time with family, and I love it. However, I may have gone into full blown panic mode Christmas Eve when I realized I had a total of 8 diapers to get us through until the 27th. 👀
We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whist We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whistler, Canada! A 10 hour flight from Germany , and I can’t say this one was better than the one we took over the summer on our trip to Alaska, but we survived! Entertaining a 11 month old for that long is much harder than a 6 month old, especially when they aren’t into sleeping on the plane AT ALL. 🤪

Whistler was beautiful despite the lack of snow, and we enjoyed our time with family, the delicious food, and as much sightseeing as one could do with a jet-lagged baby. 
This was actually my first trip to Canada ever, (unless you want to count the move my parents took up to Alaska from Arkansas when I was two. 😂🤷‍♀️ ) and I loved it! We would really like to take a big Canadian road trip someday and explore more of the country! 😍😍🇨🇦
Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time t Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time to put myself together, but I would rather spend the extra moments making special memories with our daughter that she can cherish forever. I doubt that she will look at this picture and see a tired, messy haired mama that’s barely had time to wash her face nevermind carefully apply makeup, but am hoping she will see a mama that never tires of carrying and cuddling her, or sharing new experiences with her. 💕
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